...strange. He picks me up in his fancy car.The Great Gatsby · 2013 — Chapter 7 of 18 · 3'15" · B2
Jordan Tells Gatsby's Backstory, Explained: pomp and circumstance
The request is almost comically small: get Daisy to tea so a certain someone can "happen to pass by." Jordan fills in five years of history—Louisville, the war, the letter on her wedding morning, Tom's affair splashed across the papers—and reveals that the house across the bay was never an accident.
What happens
Over drinks, someone relays Gatsby's plan: no direct meeting, just an invitation to tea so he can stroll past by chance. To explain it, the same person rewinds five years to Louisville, where Daisy waited for Gatsby through the war, then married Tom Buchanan and left Gatsby buying a house directly across the bay.
Listen for
the modesty of itby farfeeling tornpomp and circumstance
00:00 / 03:15Space play · ← → lines · R repeat
Now
Phrase of the scene
pomp and circumstance
elaborate ceremonial display, often with a hint of irony
乔丹讲当年露易丝维尔的婚礼：黛西以全城没见过的排场嫁给汤姆，用的就是 more pomp and circumstance than Louisville had ever seen。
The ceremony had plenty of pomp and circumstance but no real warmth.
Also in this scene
- the modesty of it
这份谦虚（此处含反讽）
- by far
远远地；显然（用在最高级前加强语气）
- feeling torn
心里纠结；左右为难
Everything marked in this scene
29 notes across 79 lines
- Going on about... - Keep your...He wants you to invite Daisy to tea.liaison
He wants you to invite Daisy to tea.I don't quite know where to start.wh-word plus infinitive
I don't quite know where to start.You see, I didn't realize until the other night that......was by far the most popular girl with...liaison
...was by far the most popular girl with...The way he looked at her is the way...But for some unknown reason, Gatsby couldn't return.modal negative
But for some unknown reason, Gatsby couldn't return.A year later, Tom Buchanan of Chicago swept in and stole her away.A year later, Tom Buchanan of Chicago swept in and stole her away....Daisy's changed her mind!But it was too late.elaborate ceremonial display, often with a hint of irony
...with more pomp and circumstance than Louisville had ever seen....a girl so in love with her husband.It got into all the papers.It's a strange coincidence. JORDAN: What is?The fact that Gatsby's house is just across the bay.He threw all those parties hoping she'd wander in one night.He constantly asked about Daisy. I was just the first person that knew her.relative clause
He constantly asked about Daisy. I was just the first person that knew her.And now he just wants me to invite her over to tea.The modesty of it.You're supposed to invite her over...elision
You're supposed to invite her over...I remember feeling torn.Jordan Tells Gatsby's Backstory, explained
What's really going on
On the surface it's a favor, but the ask is a tell. A dinner invitation becomes the whole architecture of Gatsby's five-year obsession: the house across the bay, the endless parties, all of it arranged around a single chance encounter. One line spells out the scale: "He bought that house to be near her." Another line admits, "He constantly asked about Daisy. I was just the first person that knew her." The Louisville story also quietly indicts the Buchanan marriage: Tom crashes a car with a chambermaid a week after the honeymoon, and the papers cover it. Against that, Gatsby's patience looks less like stalking than faith. The closing aside—"I remember feeling torn"—names the cost: he is being asked to hand his married cousin to a near stranger.
Theme
MemoryThe whole scene is a flashback to Louisville five years earlier, as Jordan reconstructs a past that Gatsby has never let go of.
DreamsGatsby's parties, his house across the bay and his one small request all point to a single fixed dream he refuses to abandon.
What you'll learn
- Use invite someone over for a visit
- Hear stole her away as taking someone
- Catch irony in The modesty of it
- Use happen to pass by for fake chance
Listen for
- invite Daisy to tea — liaison
- by far — liaison
- supposed to — elision
A year later, Tom Buchanan of Chicago swept in and stole her away.Daisy's waiting ends when a richer, more forceful man arrives. The verbs 'swept in' and 'stole her away' make it sound less like a marriage than a raid.
He bought that house to be near her.Gatsby's mansion was never about status. It is a staging ground placed directly across the water from Daisy, close enough that a light on her dock is visible.
He constantly asked about Daisy. I was just the first person that knew her.The narrator of this memory is useful to Gatsby only as a link to Daisy, which turns an old friendship into a means to an end.
All that for a girl he hasn't seen in five years.The line measures the gap between the scale of Gatsby's effort and the smallness of its object: years of parties and a house, aimed at one person he barely knows anymore.
Questions about this scene
Why did Gatsby buy a house directly across the bay?
The scene gives the answer in one line: "He bought that house to be near her." It isn't about the view; he puts himself within sight of Daisy's dock, and the parties are bait for the night she might wander in.
Why doesn't Jordan know what was in the letter?
She was there when it arrived and heard Daisy say she'd changed her mind, but Daisy wouldn't tell her. What the letter contained stays private, which is exactly the kind of secret the wedding is built to bury.
Is Gatsby's request as small as it sounds?
No. Getting Daisy to tea is tiny on its face, but everything behind it is huge: the house across the bay, the years of parties and questions. The line "The modesty of it" is wry, because the ask hides a five-year plan.
What does "the modesty of it" mean here?
It is used ironically. The request sounds modest—just come to tea—but it caps years of obsession, so the smallness of the ask is both the point and the joke.
The Great Gatsby · 18 chapters
All chapters →
Up next · Chapter 8acting like a little boyGatsby's Awkward Reunion with Daisy
Chapter 1reserve all judgmentsNick Begins His Story
Chapter 2have the decencyNick Dines with the Buchanans
Chapter 3sit on the sidelineTom's Secret Apartment Party
Chapter 4old sportNick Searches for Gatsby
Chapter 5a pack of liesGatsby Tells Nick His Life Story
Chapter 6keeps his mouth shutGatsby's Lunch with a Gambler
Watching · Chapter 7pomp and circumstanceJordan Tells Gatsby's Backstory
Chapter 8acting like a little boyGatsby's Awkward Reunion with Daisy
Chapter 9If it wasn't forGatsby Shows Daisy His Mansion
Chapter 10to your likingTom and Daisy Join Gatsby's Party
Chapter 11make a point ofDaisy Wants to Run Away
Chapter 12repeat the pastGatsby Refuses to Let the Past Go
Chapter 13Have it your own wayGatsby Meets Tom at Lunch
Chapter 14Nobody From NowhereTom Calls Gatsby Nobody From Nowhere
Chapter 15in our bloodTom Exposes Gatsby at the Hotel
Chapter 16pull yourself togetherThe Yellow Car After the Crash
Chapter 17keep your voice downGatsby Waits Outside Daisy's House
Chapter 18made something of myselfGatsby Keeps Vigil Until DawnChapter 7 of 18 · about 51 min to go